Chapter 1 · Verse 20 · Arjuna Visada Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 1.20
Sanskrit
अथ व्यवस्थितान् दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान्कपिध्वजः। प्रवृत्ते शस्त्रसंपाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डवः।।1.20।।
Transliteration
atha vyavasthitān dṛiṣhṭvā dhārtarāṣhṭrān kapi-dhwajaḥ pravṛitte śhastra-sampāte dhanurudyamya pāṇḍavaḥ hṛiṣhīkeśhaṁ tadā vākyam idam āha mahī-pate
In plain words
You are standing at the edge of something you cannot avoid, and your hands are trembling. The lesson for you: the moment you stop asking whether you're ready and lift your bow anyway—that is when you step into your own life. Your doubt doesn't disqualify you; it humbles you. And a humble heart doing what must be done is the only kind of strength that matters.
हिंदी अर्थ
तब पाण्डव अर्जुन ने धार्तराष्ट्रों की सेना को व्यवस्थित देखकर, बाणों की वर्षा शुरू होने से पहले अपना धनुष उठा लिया। कपिध्वज (बंदर के झंडे वाले) अर्जुन ने युद्ध के लिए तैयारी करते हुए अपना प्रसिद्ध धनुष उठा लिया।
Word by Word
This is the trembling threshold—the moment before action, when Arjuna beholds his enemies arrayed and takes up his bow. The Gita has brought us here deliberately, to show us that knowledge without the crucible of choice is merely philosophy.
Arjuna's action of raising the bow is not violence; it is surrender to what dharma demands of him. When we face our own impossible choices, we too must lift our bow—not with ego, but with a heart asking Krishna what truth requires of us now.
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Bhagavad Gita 1.20 — BG 1.20
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